


BorrowTale

by Lisiqe



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: BorrowTale, Multi, Names for the unnamed, New Au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-23 01:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19140616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lisiqe/pseuds/Lisiqe
Summary: Little monsters are living in your walls and floors, borrowing the little things they need in their day to day life.Papyrus has a dream, a dream to join the Runners and help his fellow Borrowers and while he has to deal with Roadblocks he will accomplish that childhood dream.Unless Sans has something to say about that.Udyne, stuck in the middle, has more problems to deal with as a new Tenant is moving into the apartments above.Welcome to my new AU BorrowTale.





	BorrowTale

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I've been working on the au for quite some time now. So I really hope you like it. <3 Comments and Kudos are appreciated. You can also ask the characters questions if you want.
> 
> Nicknames!  
> Papyrus is Button  
> Sans is Thimble.

Papyrus moved silently, as he had been taught, and carefully. He had to remain silent. Silent meant stealthy which meant hidden, that was his main goal in the end. He really couldn't afford a misstep, and so he had to keep hidden. It wouldn't do him any favors in a human found him, not when his dream of being a Runner was on the line.

Runners had to be silent since their job dealt with the humans, the large creatures he and his tribe lived under, it's their job to go up into the humans homes and borrow items their tribe needed. They had to be silent and quick though because humans are dangerous to be around, they couldn't be trusted. At least that was what King Asgore told everyone but after losing his son to the humans Papyrus knew that King Asgore knew what he was talking about.

His dream was to join the Runner, even though he knew it was dangerous, he wanted to be helpful to everyone. It was an important job, without the Runner they wouldn't have the simple things they all relied on.

Papyrus had his hand on the hilt of his sword to keep it from moving around to much. He didn't want it to give away his location and while he knew he should have taken it off earlier, he couldn't bring himself to do so. The sword was a gift to him from Undyne, it was just her old sewing needle sword, but it meant the world to him. It showed to him that she believed in him and he wasn't going to let her down now.

He felt something tap him on the top of his head, he jumped to attention having been startled by the sudden touch. He had been captured and he didn't even hear her approach. Papyrus turned to face his captor, the one and only Captain of the Guard, Undyne. She had her arms crossed and she was shaking her head but the smile on her face showed she wasn't as serious as she was trying to act.

"Nice try Papyrus, but not quite good enough. You're getting better though, took me a little longer this time to find you." Undyne had been helping him for awhile now with Runner training and during the training the two of them had became friends. She was captain of both the Guard and the Runner. The fact she was willing to set aside some time to training him meant a lot to him.

"Thank you for the training Captain, I'll do better next session." His attempt at seriousness was only met with a laugh.

"Oh common drop the serious act, trainings over, you're helping out Grillby today right? You should get going." He was a Helper, each day he was tasked with helping one of his fellow borrowers. Today was Grillby, which meant helping cleaning up the bar and getting the orders from the patrons. Just simple foods that Grillby could cook up, fire magic was great especially when you were made of it. There was also alcohol, which was either borrowed from the humans or homebrew by Grillby himself. It wasn't his favorite place to work, way too loud and busy, but Sans hung out there almost everyday and he would give him some company when he was there.

Today was Grillby it seemed, Grillby ran a bar which served simple foods and alcohol that Grillby either made himself or was brought in. It wasn't his favorite place but his brother hung out there. He didn't mind helping out his fellow borrowers but his dream was to join the Runners, that way he could help everyone. It was an important job, without the Runner they wouldn't have the simple things they all relied on.

"Yup! I should get going before its gets any later. Have a great day Undyne." Papyrus gave Undyne a bright smile before heading off.

\---

Undyne waved goodbye as she watched Papyrus leave, her pupil and friend. It was amazing how much he had grown under her tutelage but she knew it didn't matter in the end. His dream was forever going to be out of reach all thanks-- she sighed and once as Papyrus was out of her sight she crossed her arms and frowned. That damn brother of his. "I know you're here Sans, stop hiding already he's gone."

If she had less control over her own reactions she would have been startled, perhaps even jump back startled, but that wasn't her. Being the Captain meant she always had to be on guard and besides she knew Sans tricks by now. Undyne looked down at the short skeleton,the one and only older brother of Papyrus. He wasn't paying much attention to her, as she glared daggers at him, deciding instead to stare down the path his brother had just walked. She really hated Sans on days like these.

"Don't you think what you are doing to Papyrus is unfair. He would make a decent Runner if you let him and while I do feel Guard would suit him better, he has his heart set on Runner." Apparently this was enough to get Sans attention as he moved his sight from the empty hall to her own eyes. "If he ever found out that the sole reason he couldn't join the Runner was his beloved brother, well, it would crush him."

Silence. 

"Then he better not find out." 

That one sentence held so much behind it, a threat, a promise. The decision to not tell Papyrus the truth was one made above her, a deal between Sans and King Asgore. 

"I have to protect him, I can't let anything happen to him. Not on my watch, I can't lose him as well not if there was something I could do to protect him." There was times Undyne couldn't understand Sans, they had only lost one person but she could tell he wasn't talking about them. Sans hadn't been close to the Prince after all and the way he said it made it sound far more personal. 

" Sans, Papyrus is already grown, he is not a child that needs to be coddled, you could at the very least treat his as an adult. Speak to him, explain to him why you don't want him to be a Runner but keeping him in the dark will only hurt you both." 

"Is that an order, Captain."

He knew, he knew that she couldn't order him to do anything since he wasn't beneath her in the hierarchy but right beside her. The only one he had to listen to was the King and Queen. "I--" she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "I can't keep lying to him like this Sans. He's my friend, I don't want to keep lying to him."

Sans frowned then and took a step forward, they stood face to face for what felt like a few minutes even if it could only actually be seconds. "Now that's not my problem Captain. You were the one to go behind my back and train him, you were also the one who befriended him. Live with the consequences. I'll see you later at the meeting." He disappeared again leaving Undyne alone. She balled up her fist in anger, if it wasn't for his position in the hierarchy she would have decked him.

They were a large tribe of Borrowers, most others tend to be small families of maybe five at max but not them. They broke off into communities laid out in the floors of the human apartment complex. Many roles and rules were put into place to make sure things would run smoothly. She couldn't hurt Sans because of these roles, if he got seriously hurt he might not be able to do his job when the time came.

The meeting, she really didn't want to deal with it but it was an important one. Something dealing with the humans that lived above them in four apartments. An old lady lived alone in first apartment, right across from her lived a married couple. The wife was always busy going to and from work that most times when she was home the time was used to rest. Her husband stayed at home but stayed in his office pouring over notebooks and papers so he wasn't much of an obstacle. Then there was the last two apartments, one had been empty for the past couple months and the other one had the tenants moving out of it. It seemed someone new was coming in.

That was what the meeting was going to be about, but she still had some time before then and dealing with Sans made her want to take a break. She hoped Alphys wouldn't mind the company.

\---

Despite everything Papyrus loved his current job as a helper. He got to help his fellow borrowers and help lighten their load for the day. He had no real problems with where he was in his life, but he still wanted more. As a runner he would be able to help everyone instead of just one person at a time, he would still be able to continue with his Helper job since Runners didn't go everyday. That was why all Runners had second jobs. Being a Runner had been his dream as far back as he could remember, he wanted to be strong, to be someone that people looked up to. He just wanted to help his people.

Yet the dream always felt just out of reach, especially with the current roadblock. It was part of Undyne's job to recommend people to the Runners. Without her approval he couldn't move on to the next step, on the job training, which was when a would be Runner would go on a mission to test their skills. This was part of Sans job, with his powers he would watch over them but only act when he needed to pull them out. 

Undyne was his roadblock, she wouldn't approve of moving him up to the next level. She was his friend though so he knew that was wasn't doing this to be mean. Papyrus knew that he had to keep trying, keep getting better and only when he proved himself would she let him move on. 

Still, it felt so far away. There was nothing else he could do though. He would just have to put one foot in front of the other and sooner or later prove he was worthy for the job.

Today he was helping out Grillby, normally Sans was there to keep him company but not today. Sans wasn't going to be there today, it seemed the Runners had a meeting. Sans job made it impossible for him to skip the meeting. Papyrus didn't know what the meeting was for since Sans had only told him about it so he wouldn't worry when he came home late.

He spotted Tom and Guy as he made his way towards Grillby's. Tom was laying on the ground with Guy sitting next to him. Guy gave him a wave and he walked over to join the pair. The three of them all had similar jobs but they also differed. Both Guy and Tom were Assistants, which meant they focused all their attention on either one person or two in the case of Guy who was the Assistant to both Grillby and Harriet. Tom was Mettaton's assistant and out of the three of them he was the busiest. Mettaton rarely let him take a break, he was in charge of everything in Mettaton's day to day life minus of course for Running.

"Hey Papyrus, heading to Grillby's? Heard you're helping us out today." Guy had always been friendly with him, they were friends but they didn't really spend much time outside of work together. Normally Guy just hung out with Tom, that or work on his secret project. Tom stretched out on the ground catching Papyrus' eye.

"Yup, helping Grillby today and then tomorrow Gerson." Papyrus then turned his attention to Tom. "Surprised Mettaton let you have some free time Tom."

Tom groaned as he sat up off the ground. "Don't remind me, it's always work-work-work with that guy. The only reason I have any downtime is cuz of that meeting he has to attend."

The one Sans had to go to, the one he refused to talk about. He wasn't a child, even if he felt like Sans treated him like one somedays. Guy stood up and held a hand down to help Tom stand up. "Heard it might be about the new tenant since the current one is leaving. New humans tend to cause a lot of fuss with that group after all."

Tom nodded and accepted Guys help with standing up. "Heard that too, but hey new human means new things and, well, lots of things go missing in moving right?"

Guy laughed at the comment before looking off towards the direction of Grillby's, then back to the group. "We should get going, are you going to be joining us Tom?" 

If Papyrus had been paying a little more attention he would have seen Tom blush before hiding it by rubbing his face with his free hand. “Yeah, got a free period might as well go to Grillby's.”

\---  
Sans had never been happy with the idea of Undyne taking Papyrus under her wing, training him and raising his hopes about joining the Runners. She has never approved of lying to Paps and this felt like it was her way to get back at him for what he had done. He didn't mind them being friends, Papyrus had always been happy after hanging out with her, but this whole tutelage thing was just getting out of hand, especially now that she was trying to guilt him. 

When she first starting training Papyrus well Sans had went straight to King Asgore with a complaint. Normally these problems would be dealt by Queen Toriel, she dealt with the internal conflicts after all, but with the deal in place he went to Asgore. Only there wasn't anything he could do. It wasn't like Undyne was training him specifically for Runner, she claimed it was for Guard since she thought that Paps would doing amazing with that job, and it wasn't like he could restrict her from training him. It was agreed that Papyrus would not be allowed into the apartments, which just meant no on the job training but anything else was fair game. 

There was nothing against training him in the deal. So he would have to deal with it but now she was complaining to him. She had dug herself into this and it wasn't his fault she got soft. Undyne could protest as much as she wanted but it wasn't going to change his mind. The deal was in place for his protection.

Did he feel bad for lying to Paps? A little, but that didn't matter with the big picture. He couldn't lose anyone else, not after-- 

Sans shook his head, no there was no need to think on that. Besides there was also what happened to Prince Asriel, that was enough to show humans couldn't be trusted.

“Darling, if you keep frowning like that you're going to bring bad luck on yourself.” Mettatons voice pulled him out of his thought, he was sitting in the meeting room waiting for the other to arrive. They were all tricking in though most were avoiding him. Mettaton had sat down next to him. That wasn't his original name, more like a stage name that gained its own life but that didn't matter to Sans. He didn't know how Mettaton got into the Runner. He was loud and stood out among the crowds even if he was just a ghost.

"Did you make that up yourself or are you stealing sayings now?" 

Mettaton sat down in the seat next to him and shrugged. "Who knows, who cares." Sans shook his head and leaned back in his chair giving a yawn, he needed a nap. Maybe after the meeting, he tried to tune out Mettaton but he continued onwards. "I do hope Alphys finishes my new body soon. Heard on the last run to Apartment two they were able to get her a lot of electronic components from an old computer they had lying around. I cannot wait to strut my stuff."

The comment made Sans snort but it did bring a soft smile. "Pretty sure you already do that Metts."

Was that a compliment?

Who knows but that was how Mettaton heard it. "Thank you darling, I do try. Nice to see you smiling again, you're normally more laid back but the frowning face scared off the others. So One Man Rescue Team, what's got you in a bad mood."

"Nothing important right now, but thanks for worrying Mettaton." 

"We may be large but we are all still family in some shape or form Sans. Remember that." Everyone was chattering amongst each other as they all waited for Undyne and King Asgore's arrival. The peace returned to the room as Sans calmed a bit. 

It didn't take to long for them to arrive. A couple minutes after everyone arrived the door had opened and in stepped Captain Undyne. Following behind her by a few feet was King Asgore himself.

King Asgore was in charge of anything pertaining to the human, they all reported to Undyne who reported to him, so a new human was definitely worthy of his time. Asgore took a seat in front of the group as Undyne went front and center to address everyone.

"Welcome everyone, I would like to start this meeting by thanking everyone," Undyne caught Sans eye before looking away to the rest of the group. "for coming here today. As we are all aware the previous humans living in apartment three are now moving. By the end of the human month they will be packed and gone and a new human will take their spot. We will go on one last run before the current humans leave but for now we will be focusing on the incoming human. Napstablook has some information gathered on the new human so I would like to welcome him up to the stage."

Napstablook was a scout, do to his ability to turn invisible it made him easier to hide and gather information. He was also Mettaton's cousin though they were opposite in personality. He hadn't even seen him come in but when he appeared suddenly next to Undyne Sans figured he had just been invisible. 

"Oh--no--I." Undyne had already sat down to give the little ghost space. Napstablook had always been shy, he also didn't normally speak to the group. He could hear Mettaton quietly giving him word of encouragement although Sans didn't know if Blooks could hear it. "During the tour the landlady gives all new humans I was able to learn a few things. Um-oh the humans name is Frisk, they are working full time and is a college student. They would-- oh I shouldn't assume I'm sorry-- they most likely would be out of the apartment while juggling both school and a full time job. They are also mute, I saw them speaking in sign language to the landlady. That is all I know, sorry."

Asgore had been watching as the meeting progressed, Sans could see him frown at the comment about the new human being mute. He spoke up just after Napstablook finished speaking but before they could leave. "What did this human look like."

Poor Blook didn't know what do with Asgore speaking directly to them, but everyone watched as he nervously responded. "I didn't pay much attention, they had brown hair though. I'm sorry." It was a strange question, not one anyone has expected but the answer wasn't exactly pleasing to Asgore it seemed as he made a face like he had found Guys hidden stash of milk.

"Its fine, that is all, go sit down." Blook then faded away but Sans spotted them towards the back of the room. He hadn't been the only one to spot him though as he saw Mettaton give him a thumbs up before turning his attention to the front where Undyne was standing again.

“With that information it seems the place should be an easy target. For now, we will focus on the last run with the current humans.” Task were started to be given out and then the meeting continued on before concluding for the day releasing everyone back to their normal day to day. Sans really wanted that nap now.


End file.
